A devoted (obsessed) 18 year old girl's views on all-things Yankees, and other random thoughts

An Unearned Loss?

Okay. Everyone knows how much I love Francisco Cervelli. And everyone is blaming him for last night’s 6-3 Yankee loss. And that doesn’t sit well with me.

With a runner on 2nd and 1 out in the 2nd inning last night, Mike Lowell hit a lazy pop up in front of the left side of the pitcher’s mound. Vazquez came in, and Cervelli went out. Cervelli called it, and Vazquez was right there. Anticipating a collision, Cervelli braced for impact, and closed his eyes while trying to make the catch. And he missed it. The ball hit off his glove, and trickled away. It was an error on Cervelli.

Javier got the next guy out for out #2, but then ran into trouble: he walked a man to load the bases, then walked in a run. Then he served up a fat one right in the heart of the plate, and it was hit for a 2-run double. Technically, those three runs were unearned because of the error.

And the Yankees lost by three runs.

For many, it’s easy to just put the blame on Francisco Cervelli. After the game, Cervelli was asked about the error, and he just melted my heart. He was such a man about it, saying, “I’m supposed to get the fly balls. I wanted to catch the ball, but I couldn’t.”

Of course he was upset, and I was upset because he was upset. The next thing almost sent me into hysterics: Cervelli flashed that priceless smile, and said, “It was my fault tonight.”

OH, MY HEART!

But was it really his fault? He had to say it was because of the media and everything, and he probably genuinely felt like it was.

But you can’t put the blame all on Francisco Cervelli.

Let’s say Cervelli catches that ball. That would have made it 2 out with a runner on 2nd. In reality, Vazquez struckout the next batter. But due to the fallacy of the predetermined outcome, we cannot assume that Vazquez would have struckout the next guy even if Cervelli caught that pop up. Anything could have happened that inning. We will never know.

I have a question: Who was the reason why the Yankees won the other day, on August 4?

Well, let’s see…

Phil Hughes pitched a great game. But he only pitched 5 innings, so the bullpen had to do a lot of work. They didn’t allow any runs. The Yankees scored 5 runs that day. Tex had 3 RBI, Jeet had 4 hits, and A-Rod had that 600th home run.

I think you get my point.

If you are thick, I’ll keep going. And if you aren’t I’ll keep going anyway:

So who was the reason why the Yankees lost to the Red Sox last night 6-3?

Well, let’s see…

Javy Vazquez’s velocity was down, and his command was off. He could not throw his fastball for strikes, unless he threw one right down the middle. After the 1st inning, the Yankees scored just 1 run. And Cervelli made that error.

Bottom line, baseball is a team sport. When things go right and the Yankees win, it’s never because of one guy: the TEAM wins. They get contributions from multiple guys. And the same goes for when the TEAM loses: when the team loses, a lot of the guys don’t have their best day out there. THEY don’t play well, and they get beaten as a TEAM.

The Yankees lost 6-3 last night – not Cervelli. Put the loss on their record – not Cervelli’s. He did his best, just like the rest of the guys, but unfortunately his best was not good enough last night.

Cervelli has the right to feel terrible about what happened. But I hope he let’s it go, and shows up to the ballpark with a clear mind. All he can do is make the play next time, and keep looking forward.

It wasn’t an unearned loss thanks to some unearned runs thanks to Cervelli’s inability to catch that pop up. The team lost, the team didn’t have their best night out there.

I love it how people seem to get on that fire and pitchfork routine lokking for the “monster” in a loss instead of just looking for the missed opportunities, or the overal way that a team loses a game.
There is never a chance that one guy can lose a game all by himself. Even the 1919 Black Sox had to combine energies to pull off a defeat. Seriously, if you really dig below the surface, other actions could have happened to secure the win way before Cervelli’s misfortune.
Baseball is a team game…the blame should go the same direction and not focus on one figure.

This is my first time reading your blog. I don’t want to comment on this particular post, but all of them in general. Your writing is excellent. I went thru several entries and I found them to be very entertaining.
As I said, this is my first time here, but it won’t be the last.http://wrigleyregular.mlblogs.com/

Very well said. Hey…that’s Baseball. But Baseball is very forgiving. Baseball always gives you a chance to redeem yourself. It may make you a goat sometimes. But it will definitely put you in a position to be a hero again.
Mikehttp://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/

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